


I'm On My Way To You

by bibliomaniac



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Your Name AU, based heavily on your name (kimi no na wa) so beware of spoilers from pretty much the getgo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-16 17:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10576188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibliomaniac/pseuds/bibliomaniac
Summary: A star falls. Calamity inches closer. Threads twist, tangle, unravel, and connect again.And through it all, Revali has started waking up in a stranger's body, and the stranger wakes up in his. Through it all, they fall in love.(the Your Name AU that actually a few people asked for)





	1. we breathe, we dream

**Author's Note:**

> title is from the English version of RADWIMPS' Dream Lantern, which is one of the songs from the movie, while chapter title is from RADWIMPS' Sparkle (also in the movie)
> 
> guys i saw this movie today and i immediately knew that i had to do an au of it even though i already have three other fics i'm working on sobs
> 
> it's going to follow the movie pretty closely, so beware of spoilers! really, don't read it unless you think you're not going to see the movie ever, and if you think that, please reassess because it's honestly one of the most beautiful movies i've ever seen

He wakes up to a phone buzzing somewhere nearby and a muted rock song, which is weird because he doesn’t listen to rock, and neither does his younger sister Cris, and his grandfather _definitely_ doesn’t. He reaches around for his phone to stop the alarm, but it isn’t in its normal spot on the ground next to his little nest of pillows and blankets. 

In fact, when he reaches his hand out, there’s nothing there but air, and he gropes in surprise, reaching further and further until he’s falling out of the bed that he does not have.

 _That_ wakes him up, both because his head hurts from slamming it against the nightstand he doesn’t have either, and also because he does not have a bed or a nightstand and he does _not listen to rock music,_ and it’s coming from the phone that is also _not his._

(It’s rose gold. Revali would never.)

Revali stares, perplexed and still a little out of it, at the phone, then at the bed. Maybe he fell asleep at Teba’s house? No, Teba doesn’t have a bed, either. He doesn’t think anyone from Rito Village does.  His gaze trails upward. There’s a mirror at the end of the room.

And that’s when he shrieks, because his _face_ isn’t his either. It belongs to a very freaked-out-looking blond kid with blue eyes, and okay, this is officially the weirdest dream he’s ever had.

“Link,” someone calls out. “You’re going to be late. Again.”

Link? Who the crap is that supposed to be? He closes his eyes, pinches himself, does anything he can think of to try to wake up, but nothing happens.

“Link, come on,” the voice continues irritably. “I know you’re awake. I heard you.”

“Coming,” he calls out in a voice that’s higher-pitched than his own. Might as well run with it, he supposes.

There’s a pause, then, “You’re talking?”

“Yyyyyyes?” Does this imaginary dream person not talk?

“Hm. Good. You’re still late, though.”

Revali gets dressed as fast as he can, and as he does, something comes back to him. The other day, when he had met up with Teba and Saki, smiles had played on their lips, and Saki had noted, “I see your braids are back in today.”

“Huh? They always are.” He had touched one, run his finger along the red cord entwined in it.

“They weren’t yesterday. You had awful bedhead.”

“My hair is always flawless, actually,” he had sniffed, and thought no more of it until second period, where the teacher had called his name.

“Oh, good, you remember your name today,” they had commented mildly, and Revali had blinked.

The other odd thing is that when he had opened up his notebook to take notes—he’s a _very_ conscientious student, thank you, he has to be the best if he wants to get out of this hell town—he had turned a page and seen written in large letters, “Who are you?”

He had frowned. It wasn’t his handwriting, thinner and more spidery.

At lunch, he had asked about the name thing. “You were acting really strange yesterday,” Teba had said. “You didn’t respond to your name, and your hair looked like crap, and you kept staring at us when we tried to talk to you.”

“Really?” He had frowned. “I don’t remember that, but…I guess I have been having strange dreams lately.”

“Maybe it’s stress,” Saki had offered. “You have that ceremony coming up, and all, and your dad…”

“Don’t mention him.”

“Right, okay. Anyway, my point is you have a lot going on. Maybe it just got to you.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

He sighs, back in the present moment. This certainly qualifies as a strange dream.

When he walks out the front door, he inhales sharply. This is…this is Castletown. He’s always dreamed of going, of escaping from his small village, but this is so much _better_ than he could have imagined.

But he doesn’t have time to look at the dream scenery, which is surprisingly detailed, because he’s very, very late. He doesn’t get into school until noon, mostly because he has no idea where he’s going or what to do. When he does, he’s immediately accosted by two girls.

“Really, Link? Noon?” one of them, a blonde girl, asks disapprovingly.

“I got…lost,” he says, which is true, and the blonde girl gasps.

“Link, you’re talking?”

“Yes! I do that sometimes.” He pauses. “Don’t I?”

“Um, not often,” the other girl, who has a shock of red hair, says confusedly. “You’re selectively mute.”

“Oh.” Crap. “Um, I’m just not…feeling…that today.”

“You’re just not ‘feeling’ your anxiety disorder?”

Double crap. “I mean, like, I’m in a good mood.”

“…Uh huh.” They’ve been walking to an area of the school grounds, and they all sit, the girls still giving him dubious looks.

“Well, I’m glad,” the blonde one finally declares. “A good day is a good day.” She pulls out some food out of her backpack, and Revali winces.

“Oh, that,” he mumbles. He had forgotten about food. He’s not really in the habit of buying dream food, but he is dream hungry, so. “Can I buy some food somewhere or something?”

Their eyes both narrow. “You hate cafeteria food. You always cook your own,” the red one says.

“Not today. Got up late.”

“Link, you’re usually late _because_ you wake up late and cook anyway.” The blonde one is frowning now. He really wishes he could ask their names without it being awkward. “You can have some of mine, though. What’s up with you today?”

“Nothing. Just…having a weird dream,” he responds, taking half of the proffered sandwich. 

“Having?” the red one asks sharply.

“Had. I meant had,” he says haltingly.

“Okay.” They’re still frowning, but they’re apparently polite enough to not say anything about it. “Well, do you have work today? If not we should go out somewhere, since you’re having a good day.”

“I work?”

They stare at him.

“Yes. I do. I work. How do I…check on that?”

“You keep a detailed schedule, Link.”

“And a journal,” the blonde one pipes up.

He opens up the journal, curious. It’s mostly mundane things, but written in yesterday’s entry is something about having a shift today. “Oh. Looks like I do work today.”

“Aw, too bad.”

The conversation shifts, and then classes start up again. He raises his hand to answer a lot of questions, and everybody looks at him oddly, which he supposes makes sense if this dream person has selective mutism.

(And, he thinks disgustedly as he looks through his notes, if his dream self is just a crappy student, which he assumes he is given his ‘notes’ are mostly just doodling.)

Classes end, and he makes his way to work. He works at a restaurant, apparently, as a server. It’s a pretty classy restaurant, too, and they do _not_ appreciate his utter incompetence at serving…anyone. He’s not really the serving type.

The worst part of the night is when some skeevy guy accuses him of leaving a hair on his pizza. He smiles and says, “All of our cooks wear hairnets, and I’m pretty sure you’re the only one here with long brown hair, so…” 

“What?!” the man says angrily, and someone edges him out of the way. 

“Sorry about that! What appears to be the problem?” The girl—it is a girl, too, with pretty red hair, a different color from the red girl from earlier. “I’ll handle this,” they whisper.

He smiles gratefully, then gets the heck out of dodge.

Later, another female server points out, “Mipha, you’ve got a tear in your skirt. Right over…well…”

The girl, Mipha, visibly tenses. “That guy,” she murmurs. “What a jerk.”

“Oh, I can help with that,” Revali offers. “Follow me.”

She follows him, confused, into a small room, where he says, “All right, give me your skirt.”

She colors. “I beg your pardon?”

“I know how to sew,” he clarifies. “Skirt, please.”

She turns even redder. “I don’t really think—” 

“Please, it’s nothing I care about,” he says dismissively. He’s as gay as the day is long, after all. “And I won’t look, okay? You can put this towel over yourself and all.” 

“All right,” she whispers, and he turns around dutifully.

He sews up the tear—not a tear, really, it was done with a knife, which is so scummy he doesn’t even have words for it—and clicks his tongue. “I made it so it’s not so noticeable, but you’ll probably want to get a new skirt anyway.”

“Oh, wow,” she breathes, looking at the skirt in wonder. “I can barely even tell.”

He puffs up in pride. “I’m very good, after all.”

She laughs, surprised. “I feel like I’ve seen a new side of you today. I like it.” She smiles. “Thank you, Link. Would you mind walking me to the bus station?”

“Of course not. You probably shouldn’t be alone this late in a city this big anyway.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

On the way out of the room, another server hisses, “Really? You’re making a move on _Mipha?_ Not cool, dude.” 

“I’m not making a move,” he says calmly.

“Sure.” He scoffs. “Look, we’re all into her, all right? So stop it.”

He smiles pleasantly. “Yes, but I’m the one walking her to the station, aren’t I?”

The guy splutters, and he winks. So Link is into Mipha, hm? Interesting.

When he gets home, he figures he might as well recount his experiences for the day in the journal, as long as he’s pretending to be Link anyway. “Walked Mipha to the bus stop because I’m amazing,” he types. “Girls would so be into me if I were into them.” 

Clicking off the phone, he sighs and lays back on the bed. “What a dream,” he mutters, then remembers again his notebook, and “who are you”. “Guess I might as well leave my mark on the dream, huh?” He writes ‘Revali’ on his arm with a brush pen, then lays back down again and closes his eyes. “A really, really weird dream.”

It is, of course, not a dream, and he will learn that in due time—and he will learn what it means to die, and what it means to live, and what it means to love.

But for now, he sleeps.


	2. there was something that i've longing for

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for religious rituals and ceremonies (of a fictional variety; i'm not using Shinto because I feel that would be disrespectful)
> 
> chapter title is from dream lantern by RADWIMPS

Link wakes up with a gasp and the word ‘Revali’ written in thick, elegant script on his arm. He stares at it for a moment, vision still blurry, and for some reason the word feels like the answer to a question.

It’s a question he doesn’t remember asking, though.

He spends some extra time in the bathroom scrubbing off the word, then goes out into the kitchen to make his lunch. He loves cooking. When he’s cooking, it’s like everything makes sense for a while, like everything comes together. It doesn’t matter that his dad is disappointed in him, and it doesn’t matter that he’s disappointed in himself, and it doesn’t matter that he has no idea what his future holds. It’s just him and meat and mushrooms and salt, and everything is quiet, just like he likes it.

He hears his dad come out of the room, sees him raise his eyebrow. “You’re up early.”

He shrugs.

“Back to not talking?” He huffs. “Fine. Make sure you get to school on time today, though.”

Link blinks at his father’s back, then decides it doesn’t really matter and gets back to cooking.

When he gets to school, everyone stares at him, which is odd because he always does his best to be as unobtrusive as possible. He doesn’t talk, obviously, and he doesn’t answer questions, or ask any for that matter. He just sits at his desk and doodles. Everyone should have gotten used to that a long time ago.

He’s drawing a mountain, something he saw in a recent dream. It was a weird place, the town in his dream—somewhere on the outskirts of Hyrule if the accents were anything to go by, and clearly close-knit. He didn’t recognize it, but the mountains surrounding it were pretty, anyway.

Lunchtime arrives, and he’s about to make his way to his normal lunch spot when Zelda and Urbosa run up and latch onto him.

“What’s up?” he signs, slightly confused. “I was just heading to our spot.”

“You didn’t know where it was yesterday, so we thought you might need some help,” Urbosa says dryly.

“What?” he signs, even more confused now.

“And you’re signing again,” Zelda says thoughtfully.

“I always sign. How else would I talk to you guys?”

“Yesterday you were talking out loud,” Urbosa says, arms still linked with his and ushering him forward. “It was weird.”

“Not that we minded,” Zelda adds, glaring at Urbosa. “If you want to talk, that’s fine.”

He frowns. “Okay, obviously I’m missing something. What happened yesterday?”

“You showed up at, like, noon, looking really out of it. You didn’t know where our lunch spot was, you pretty clearly didn’t even know our names. You also hadn’t cooked anything, and you were _talking._ You had an accent, too,” Zelda lists off.

“It’s like you were possessed, or something,” Urbosa says thoughtfully. “I’m glad you’re back to normal today.”

Curious and more than a little worried, he pulls up his journal app. Maybe he wrote something about it, even if he can’t remember it?

The journal app has a new entry with a different color code, a deep blue to his usual green.

He reads through it, eyes widening. He had sewed Mipha’s skirt? He doesn’t even know how to sew! And he walked her to the station?! He’s surprised he even remembered how to walk around her!

And then that last bit, the “girls would be so into me if I were into them”? He’s always been very much pansexual. At the end of it, there’s the word ‘Revali’ again, like a signature. Is it a name, then? He doesn’t know anyone by that name.

He scowls at his phone and clicks it off. Whatever. Somebody’s clearly messing with him, and he’s not going to let it get to him.

When he gets to work, all of the guys there are glaring at him.

“So, what happened after you walked Mipha to the station, huh?” one of them asks rudely.

“I don’t really remember,” he signs awkwardly, and the one guy there who knows sign translates for him. They all make a face.

“Suuure.”

Just then, Mipha walks into the door. “Hey, guys! I hope you had a good shift.” 

They all blush. “Hello, Mipha,” they chorus. 

“Well, let’s make the rest of this day a good one!” she continues, then pauses and winks. “Right, Link?”

They all turn to look at him accusatorily as he turns a bright red and nods. 

Really, what _happened_ yesterday? And who is Revali?

 

* * *

 

Revali wakes up back in his own little nest, with his phone where it normally is and the right color, and sighs in relief.

He gets dressed, braids his hair with red cords as always, and walks out to breakfast. He gets some food as a chime plays, and the town alert system begins, “Hello, citizens of Rito Village. Please remember that the mayoral election is—”

Angrily, Revali’s grandpa pulls out the cord providing electricity to the system and switches on the television instead. It’s displaying a news program talking about the Calamity Comet.

“The Calamity Comet is coming closer to us every day,” the news anchor says, turning to her partner. “It only comes around every 1,200 years, so when it’s visible in about a month, it will be quite a sight! It will be visible to the naked eye for a few days, but it will be at its closest to the earth on October 4th, so be ready.”

“Please remember, both of you, that the ceremony is tonight, so you’ll need to come home straight from school to prepare,” Revali’s grandpa says. “We’ll be braiding cords beforehand.”

“We know,” Cris, Revali’s younger sister, groans. Revali nudges her, a gentle reprimand.

“We’ll be there, grandpa,” Revali says. “Don’t worry.”

Everyone is staring again when he gets to school, which is irritating. Also, he has doodles all over his notebook, which is even more irritating. He can’t even draw—not well, anyway. Somebody must have taken his notebook.

Something pokes at the back of his mind, though—the person he pretended to be in his dream, they could draw, right? The style of it even looks familiar.

He shakes off the thought and listens to the teacher.

When school ends, he walks home, picking up Cris on the way. They both change into robes and go into the cord room.

Cris yawns as she winds thread around a spool. “This is boring. I’d rather do what Grandpa is doing,” she mumbles.

“You’re not ready yet,” their grandpa says. “You have to listen to the thread, listen to what it tells you.”

“Thread doesn’t talk!”

“He means you have to concentrate,” Revali admonishes.

“Years of Rito Village’s history are woven into our cords. We’d know more about it, too, if it weren’t for Albo.”

“Here he goes again,” Revali says quietly, but his smile is fond. 

“Albo was a textile maker, and his house caught fire. The fire, known as the Great Fire of Albo, destroyed hundreds of documents about our rituals, but we continue them because tradition is important, Cris. That’s why this shrine, the Totori Shrine, is important also. But…that father of yours…” 

Revali deflates. He hates hearing about his father. 

“Leaving behind the shrine is bad enough, but going into politics on top of it? So disrespectful.”

They finish the cords they’re working on, then change into their ceremonial robes for the ritual. Revali puts feathers into his hair behind the braids and nods. He supposes there’s not really much use getting nervous about this at this point.

Revali walks out to the makeshift stage, takes a deep breath, then begins dancing alongside Cris. It’s a slow, purposeful dance, airy and light in form but heavy in meaning.

The dance concludes, and both Revali and Cris remove the feathers from their hair and kiss them. He can hear muted giggling from the crowd. Someone from school must have shown up. He closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them and continues the ritual. He has a duty, after all.

They finish it by wrapping the feathers together with the cords they finished earlier and then wrapping that in cloth. They’ll wait for around a month, then deliver it to the sacred place on top of the mountain.

When he falls asleep that night, it feels somehow like something has shifted—something important, something special.

Something, perhaps, that could change his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cris, incidentally, is from cyanocitta cristata, aka the blue jay
> 
> oh and totori is the name of the lake surrounding rito village
> 
> if you've seen the movie you may notice i'm messing around with the timeline a bit. that is because my memory is very bad lol


	3. everything up 'til yesterday was a prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Sparkle by RADWIMPS  
> cw for religious talk again, of the fictitious variety

When Revali next wakes up, he has written on his arm in that same, spidery handwriting, “Revali? Who are you? What are you?”

“What?” he says out loud.

Cris slams open the door and observes, “You’re talking again today. Anyway, breakfast! Get ready! Hurry up!”

“Talking…?” he says, confused.

His classmates are all staring again when he walks in. “Why…why is everyone looking at me?” he hisses to Saki.

“Well, you made sort of a scene yesterday,” Saki says with an odd look. “We were doing a still life drawing.”

“Yours was weirdly good, by the way,” Teba comments.

“Anyway,” Saki says, glaring at Teba, “They started talking about your dad, and you sort of kicked over one of the tables and just stared at them with this smirk on your face until they stopped talking.”

“I did what?!” Revali says, horrified.

“Also, you weren’t talking again, and your hair was back in a ponytail. Again. No braids.” Teba raises an eyebrow. “Not that it looked bad or anything, but it was weird.”

Revali frowns. “That’s so strange. I don’t remember any of it.”

“Maybe you should see a doctor,” Saki suggests.

“You mean Tibius? Right.” He snorts. “Like he could help any.”

But he hasn’t been acting like himself, and he hasn’t been talking. Almost like…he bites his lip. Almost like the guy in his dreams.

An aching suspicion begins to grow within him.

He runs home that day, ignoring Grandpa and Cris at the table, and looks through his private notebook. Horror dawns on him, as past the rows of careful notes are questions in the same spidery handwriting he’s been seeing here, with doodles in the same careful style as he’s been seeing in his dreams. “No, there’s no way,” he murmurs.

In Castletown, Link is looking through his journal entries, at the dark blue interspersed every few days with his own green. “It couldn’t be,” he says quietly in the comfort of his own room. 

“In our dreams,” Revali continues thinking out loud, “That guy and I are…”

“Switching places?!” they both say incredulously. 

Time passes, and the theory only solidifies. _I’m beginning to get what’s going on,_ Revali thinks on the train that takes him to Link’s school. _Link is a boy my age living in Castletown._

 _I switch with Revali at random,_ Link writes in Revali’s notebook, trying to get his thoughts down in words, _a few times a week, always unexpectedly. It’s brought on by sleep, but who knows what causes it…_

 _My memory of the switch is hazy after I wake up,_ Revali thinks, scowling as everyone laughs at him for something he’d apparently done the day before.

 _But we’re definitely switching places,_ Link thinks as Mipha shows him the skirt ‘he’ had apparently sewed. _It’s obvious from the reactions of the people around us. So…_

 _So we’re laying down some rules to protect our lifestyles,_ Revali concludes with a nod. _Things to watch out for during the switch and a list of “don’t”s._

He looks over his own list. _No taking baths, I don’t want you touching me. Stop cooking gourmet meals for my family, they keep expecting me to keep it up! Take good notes, you delinquent, I need them if I’m going to get out of here…_ It continues for a while.

Link’s list is short and to the point. _Stop talking. Especially stop talking with that ridiculous accent of yours. Stop wasting my money going out to cafés with Zelda and Urbosa. Stop showing up late. Stop hitting on Mipha._

They agree to start leaving each other detailed reports on their phones. But it doesn’t really matter how many warnings they leave each other or how long the list grows…

 _I hate that guy!_ Revali fumes. 

 _I hate Revali!_ Link thinks, equally irritated.

 _I know you’re good at sports, but now people are asking me to be on their team! Cut it out!_ Revali types furiously.

 _Maybe I would if you would stop spending all of my money on sweets!_ Link responds, jabbing the keys like it will convey his anger.

_You’re the one getting the nutrition. And besides, I have to work for you too!_

_What’s with these braided cords? It’s too hard, I can’t do it!_

_What’s with you taking so many shifts? Are you trying to kill us both?!_

_I have to take lots of shifts because you’re WASTING ALL OF MY MONEY!_

In their anger at each other, they usually end up ignoring all of their rules. Link cooks for Revali’s friends and takes joy in Revali’s frustration about being asked to cook again. Revali flirts mercilessly with Mipha and laughs when Link gets mad about being confronted by his coworkers.

Oddly enough, the other people seem to get used to it—and some of them even appear to like it.

_Link, why is a girl asking me out?! Everybody knows I’m gay!_

_You’re more popular when I’m you, probably because you have an awful personality._

_Don’t be so egotistical! It’s not like anyone likes you enough to date you!_

_Same goes for you, you prick!_

_I’m single because I want to be!_ Revali says, angrily writing the word ‘dickface’ on his cheek.

 _Well, so am I!_ Link says, writing ‘douchebag’ on his.

One day, Link wakes up in Revali’s weird nest-thing, yawning as he stretches and then turns off his alarm.

Revali’s younger sister, Cris, slams open the door. “Seriously, get ready! You know today is important.”

He gets dressed in the school uniform, putting Revali’s hair up in a ponytail—which he always does, thanks, he’s not going to take the time to braid it even if Revali yells at him, which he does—and walks out to the dining area.

“The Calamity Comet has been visible for a few days now,” says the overly cheery news anchor, Link only half-listening. “It’s moving east to west, so it can be seen above Venus. Be sure to catch it when it reaches its perigee in couple of days’ time!” 

“Why are you wearing the uniform?” Cris asks, frowning. “We’re going to the sacred place today, remember?” 

He doesn’t remember for obvious reasons, but he gets changed into some old clothes anyway. They begin hiking up a mountain, to a place Revali’s grandpa tells them is called Rospro’s Pass.

“The sacred place is so far away,” Cris complains. “Why can’t it be closer?”

“We’d know if it weren’t for Albo,” Revali’s grandpa says peaceably.

Link makes a confused face, poking Cris to ask who that is, and Cris tilts her head.

“Huh? You know,” she says dismissively.

Link sighs, looking forward to where Revali’s grandpa is starting to struggle. Silently, he runs up to him and offers his back.

They continue walking, now with Revali’s grandpa on Link’s back. Eventually, Revali’s grandpa speaks up.

“Revali, Cris, do you know the meaning of the word ‘Hylia’?” 

“Hylia?” Cris asks.

“Hylia is the name of Hyrule’s guardian goddess. It can also be translated as ‘union’. Tying thread is a union. Connecting people is a union. The flow of time is a union. These are all the powers of the goddess. So, the braided cords that we make are of the Goddess Hylia, and they represent the flow of time itself. They converge, take shape, twist and tangle, sometimes unravel, break, then connect again. Hylia—the union. That’s what time is.” 

They sit, then, and Revali’s grandpa pours Link some tea. “Drink,” he says calmly.

Link nods gratefully, taking a long sip, and Cris says, “I want some too!”

“That’s also a union!” Revali’s grandpa says. “When a person partakes of something and it joins the soul, it’s a union. The offering we’re making today, it’s an important custom that creates a union between the Goddess and the people.”

They continue hiking, and finally they reach a point where Cris yells excitedly, “It’s there! The sacred place! The body of Hylia!”

Link blinks through Revali’s eyes. It’s a large crater, green and beautiful, and in the center there’s a large rock.

They walk towards it, and Revali’s grandpa says solemnly, “Beyond this point is the netherworld. In exchange for returning to the world you know, you must leave behind what is most precious to you.” There’s a river surrounding the rock, and Link helps Revali’s grandpa across. “That’s what these offerings are for. It’s a part of you.”

 _A part of Revali,_ Link thinks solemnly as he looks down at the cloth-covered parcel that Revali’s grandpa hands him.

They lay the parcel down at a small shrine inside the rock, then pray over it, formally offering it to the Goddess Hylia, then begin walking back down the mountain.

“It’s the magic hour already,” Cris says thoughtfully as she looks at the golden light surrounding them.

 _The magic hour?_ Link wonders, then stops and inhales sharply at the view before him. It’s a gigantic lake, and he can see the town below.

“Oh yeah, maybe we can see the comet!” Cris says, looking excitedly out at the sky. 

 _The comet?_ Right, the one they mentioned on the news. He hasn’t heard anything about it in his own life, though. He continues to stare out at the lake. 

“Oh, Revali,” Revali’s grandpa says as he walks up to them from behind. Link turns to look at him, blinking.

“You’re dreaming right now,” Revali’s grandpa asks slowly, “Aren’t you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been watching a subbed copy of the movie to get everything right but i think it's sort of cramping my style so sorry if this chapter Sucks
> 
> obv hylia being 'musubi' is a bit forced but. again i really don't want to use actual shinto in here bc i'd be worried about being disrespectful :/


	4. since one day you will disappear (i'll keep every part of you)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title from Sparkle by RADWIMPS

Link wakes up with tears streaming down his face. He touches them, confused. _Tears? Why?_

He opens up his phone—he must have been woken up by the notification—and checks the message. It’s from Mipha, and it says, “I’m almost to the station! See you soon :)”

He blanches. Um, what? Hurriedly checking the journal entry from Revali, his face goes even paler. “A date?” he whispers to himself disbelievingly. “Revali, what did you _do?”_

He gets dressed hurriedly and runs all the way to the nearby train station.

 _You have a date with Mipha tomorrow!_ the journal entry had read. _Meet at 10:30 at the station, and don’t be late._

Link reaches the station and looks around for Mipha. He can’t see her, but soon he hears her sweet voice, “Link. Sorry, did you wait a long time?”

He freezes, surprised, then turns around and shakes his head vehemently, turning a delicate pink. 

She laughs. It’s a beautiful sound.

 _I wonder what Revali’s laugh sounds like,_ he wonders idly, then shakes his head again. No. Bad Link.

“Good, I’m glad. Let’s go!” She doesn’t take his hand—he needs them to sign, after all—but she does link their arms.

Back in his body, Revali finishes up his last braid. _They must have met up about now,_ he thinks, a melancholy settling across him. He’s surprised to find tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. _Hey, wait, what?_

But the tears continue, no matter how he swipes at them, no matter how he justifies his reasoning.

Link and Mipha go all across town, Link consulting the journal entry to make sure he’s following Revali’s schedule, mostly because Revali will probably kill him otherwise.

 _This is the date I always wanted to go on,_ the journal entry continues. _So you better enjoy it. Anyway, I know you’ve never actually been on a date before, so I linked you to some articles that might help. (Unlikely, knowing you, but I tried.)_

Link scrolls through the linked articles and scowls. They’re all things about dating with social anxiety. One of them is called, “How to Get a Date Even with a Bad Personality”.

Even with the incredibly unhelpful articles, he doesn’t exactly know what to say to Mipha. Conversation between them is stilted and awkward, and he curses Revali for putting him in this position.

They head to a photo exhibit. Apparently Mipha and Revali both have things for nature photography. Under a section entitled “The Hebra Mountains”, there’s a familiar sight. His eyes widen. It’s Revali’s town!

He stands, staring at it, and Mipha walks back over to him, her expression questioning, then almost sad. “Link…” she says, then pauses. “You’re almost like a different person today, you know.” Then she walks away again.

He follows her, and they leave the exhibit and start walking back across the city. She’s being incredibly quiet, so he gets her attention then signs, “Are you hungry? We could get dinner…”

“No, I don’t think so,” she says thoughtfully. “Let’s end it here, okay?”

“Okay,” he signs, but his heart isn’t sinking nearly as much as it maybe should at that. Mostly he just feels relieved.

She sighs. “Link…forgive me if I’m wrong, but you used to like me, right?”

He goes red.

“But…now I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of someone else,” she says. “Someone you like more.”

He goes even redder. “No!” he signs.

“Really?” she asks, raising an eyebrow, and Revali pops unbidden into his mind.

“Definitely not!”

“Hm. Well…either way, thank you for today. I’ll see you at work.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Then, she walks away again.

He can’t really bring himself to go after her, somehow.

He stays there for a while, then slowly begins the walk to the station that will take him home. Biting his lip, he pulls up the journal entry again. For some reason Revali’s words are soothing, even if they can be abrasive.

 _By the time you and Mipha are done, the comet should be visible,_ he’s written. _Perfect end to the night, don’t you think? You can thank me later._

Link huffs at the boy’s ego, but mostly he’s confused. Comet? What comet?

 _I want to hear his voice,_ the thought comes into his mind unbidden. _I want to talk to him._ They’ve never called each other before—a line they were unwilling or afraid to cross—but they had exchanged numbers, for emergencies. Biting his lip, he calls Revali’s number. 

It rings.

It rings again.

Back in Rito Village, Revali gets a call from Teba. “Hey,” his gruff friend asks, “You coming to the festival?”

“I’m not…really feeling like it,” Revali says softly. His heart aches.

“But the Calamity Comet is reaching its perigee today. It’ll be at its brightest. You have to come.”

“Fine,” Revali says. He doesn’t really feel like fighting about it. “I’ll be there.” 

Later that night, Teba and Saki are waiting together near the vending machines. “You just want to see him in ceremonial robes,” Saki says, poking Teba playfully. “You’ve always thought he’s attractive, don’t even try to deny it.”

“Shut up,” he says, coloring slightly. “I wasn’t even thinking about that, just…I’m worried about him, you know? He sounded down when I called earlier.”

“Hey, guys,” Revali’s voice comes.

“Finally,” Teba says with a frown, then his jaw drops. “Um…”

“Revali, what did you do to your _hair?”_ Saki asks, voice horrified.

Revali has cut off his shoulder-length hair. What’s left is spiked, almost feathery. “Felt like a change,” he says shortly. “And I know I look amazing, so don’t even try to tell me otherwise.” 

“You look fine, but…”

“Aren’t we going to be late? Come on,” Revali says, walking away without waiting for a response from the two stunned teenagers. 

As he walks ahead of them, Teba and Saki speculate. “Maybe he had his heart broken,” Teba says.

“Please, we would know if Revali were into someone,” Saki says dismissively. “I mean, he did say he just wanted to.” 

“But most of his hair is gone! His _braids,_ Saki!”

They’re interrupted by Revali. “You can see it!” They both look up at the sky, where a shining light is visible. 

Revali looks for a break in the railing of the road that they’re walking along, then starts to run down the hill. The feeling of the wind through his outstretched hands, through his hair, is wonderful—freeing, almost. It makes him forget about everything. 

“Wow,” Teba says from behind him in an uncharacteristic display of awe.

Revali blinks up at the sky. The light splits in two, and— 

Link’s phone rings, and then a cheery voice says, “We’re sorry. The number you’re calling is out of area or has been disconnected.”

 _Whatever,_ Link thinks, clicking off his phone. _I’ll tell him about everything next time we switch._

That’s what he thought, anyway. But after that time, he and Revali never switched again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i saw the movie again lol. just as good the second time


	5. if only our voices could reach the edge of this world (instead of fading into air and dust)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from RADWIMPS' Dream Lantern
> 
> cw for death, natural disasters

Link doesn’t know what to do. He’s consumed with worry over Revali, with thoughts of what might have happened. (Of what could have been? He shakes that one off as often as it comes.)

He spends most of his time sketching what he remembers of Rito Village. Revali’s family’s shrine, the school, the beautiful view of the lake from the top of the mountain. He sketches in school, he sketches at home, late into the night. He sketches, erases, sketches again, until he gets everything perfect.

And everything _is_ perfect, or it _should_ be, but it _isn’t_ because Revali isn’t there. He isn’t there to make snarky comments about all of Link’s life choices, or to mess up Link’s relationships. His calls don’t go through, his texts don’t send. They may only have known each other for a month, but Link is quickly realizing that his feelings for Revali go beyond hatred, beyond friendship even. He needs him. Maybe…maybe they even need each other.

And so it is that he decides to go find Revali. He doesn’t know where he is, not exactly—he knows it’s somewhere around the Hebra Mountains from the exhibit, but not much else—but he has to believe that their connection will lead them to each other, somehow.

It’s a bright Saturday morning when Link gathers up all of his sketches and gets dressed for a day out. He pauses, then winds his lucky charm—a red braided cord—around his wrist. He could use as much luck as he can get, after all.

He walks to the train station, looking down at his feet, mustering all of the determination in him. He only looks up when he sees a familiar pair of shoes. 

“Zelda?!” he signs incredulously. “And…Mipha? What are you doing here?”

“No time for that now,” Zelda says mischievously. “We have a train to catch.”

They run to catch the train, and as soon as they’re situated, Link repeats his question. 

“Well, Zelda told me, and here I am!” Mipha says cheerfully.

“Zelda, I asked you to cover for me at work and at home,” Link signs irritably. “Not to come along.”

“Urbosa is covering for you at work. And we’re all worried about you; obviously we’re not going to let you go alone to meet some guy. What if you’re being catfished?”

“It’s not like that,” Link signs, sighing.

They continue the train ride, switch to another, get a small lunch from a station vendor. Mipha blinks as Link explains. “What? You don’t know where he is?”

“Not exactly,” Link signs hesitantly. “I know what his hometown looks like, though.”

“And you can’t contact him? This all seems really strange.”

“I know. But…I have to find him somehow,” Link signs, turning his head to stare out the window.

Zelda and Mipha both look at him, then at each other. 

They get off the train near the Hebra Mountains, and Link pulls the sketch of the town out of his backpack. While Zelda and Mipha act the role of tourists, Link shows his sketch to people, along with a handwritten sign asking them if they know the area.

Hours pass, they walk all over, but nobody seems to recognize the drawing. Link exhales slowly as they sit at a bus stop.

“I think it might be impossible after all,” he signs dully.

“What?!” Zelda exclaims. “After all we’ve done?!”

“You guys haven’t done anything!” Link signs, scowling.

“Rude, Link. We’ve been providing emotional support,” Mipha says lightly. “Let’s go for dinner and talk things over, okay? We can make a plan from there.”

They find a nearby place and order some steamed meat skewers. They eat in silence.

“Do you think we can make it back to Castletown today?” Link signs. 

“I’ll check,” Zelda says. “I think it’ll be tight, though.”

“Thanks,” Link signs.

“Are you all right with that?” Mipha asks worriedly.

“Yeah…I think I might have been barking up the wrong tree this whole time, really,” Link signs, pulling the sketch of the town out of his backpack again.

The server, an older lady, comes to refill their water. Her eyes widen. “Hey, that’s Rito Village, isn’t it? It’s a lovely drawing. Darling, come look at this.”

The cook comes around from the back of the restaurant and nods. “Yep, that’s Rito Village.”

“He was born and raised there, you know,” the lady says confidentially.

 _Rito Village?_ Link’s eyes widen, and he starts nodding vehemently. _Yes, that’s it!_ He takes a sheet out of his sketchbook and scribbles hurriedly, “Yes, exactly! It’s nearby, right?”

They both blink at him, faces turning concerned. “But…Rito Village…”

“Wait, Rito Village?” Zelda inquires, paling. “Isn’t that…”

“The place where that comet…” Mipha continues hesitantly, looking at Link.

Link tilts his head, not understanding.

“Rito Village was destroyed by a meteor,” Zelda says slowly.

Link’s heart freezes. What? What are they… “Ha ha,” he signs, panicked. “That’s not funny, you know.”

“Link, it’s true,” Mipha says softly. “It was all over the news.”

“I can take you to it,” the old man offers gruffly. “If you want to see.”

He drives them silently to a familiar place—Revali’s high school. The first thing Link notices is that it looks a lot older, more decrepit. The second thing he notices is all of the ‘keep out’ signs and the yellow tape everywhere.

He hops the tape, the divider, and runs to the high fence at the edge of the schoolyard. He stares, unseeing, until everything comes into clear focus.

The town is _gone._

There’s the lake, and then there’s a large hole filled with water, and…nothing else. He can see destroyed concrete everywhere, the remnants of a train, the remnants of a place he once knew almost as well as his own life.

“Hey…is this really the place?” Mipha asks, walking forward.

“There’s no way,” Zelda says, frowning. “He must be misremembering.”

“No,” Link signs shakily. “This is it, it’s…the school, the mountains…”

“That can’t be right! You have to remember the disaster that killed hundreds of people three years ago!”

“They…died?” Link signs, everything going blurry. “Three years ago? That…that can’t be. I still have his journal entries.” He pulls out his phone with shaking hands, pulling up the journal app.

He looks down at his phone, then wipes his eyes. Everything is out of focus. But it is somehow very clear as the words in his phone turn to symbols and then disappear.

 _No entries,_ his phone says, almost like it’s mocking him.

He doesn’t say anything as they head to a library in the area. Zelda reads out loud quietly. “The Calamity Comet, with an orbital period of 1,200 years, made a close approach to our planet three years ago, in October. Nobody predicted that its nucleus would split when it was at its perigee. A fragment of the comet became a meteor that hit Hyrule. At 8:42 PM, it struck where people were gathered for Rito Village’s annual autumn festival. Over 500 people died, a third of the town’s population, and now nobody lives in Rito Village anymore.” 

Mipha pulls out a book listing the names of all the victims. Link pores through it straight from the beginning. His breath catches.

_Teba…and Saki…_

_And…_

His heart breaks, because the word is written in stark black on the page, unforgiving.

_Revali._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i havent been updating as often. things have been...difficult
> 
> also i had mixed up meteors and comets. i went back and fixed the terminology in the past chapters


	6. if you're not around in this wide world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from Nandemonaiya by RADWIMPS
> 
> cw in this chapter for mentioned sickness, death, disaster

“That’s him?” Mipha asks, concern a permanent fixture on her face now. “But he died three years ago.”

“Just two or three weeks ago, he said the comet would be visible,” Link signs, frustrated. “Which means…”

_“You’re dreaming right now, aren’t you?”_

“I…” He can’t breathe. His signs are stilted. “What did I…?”

Zelda runs her hand along his back, but he shrugs off the touch and continues reading.

Zelda and Mipha eventually tell him it’s too late to continue on at the library, and they can’t exactly take out the books when it’s from some branch they’ll never return to. He insists on finding a bookstore where he can buy some more reading material, plus a map. They leave him be in their rented room.

“How’s Link?” Mipha asks quietly in the small communal area of the hotel.

“Still reading articles on Rito Village,” Zelda says with a sigh. “Newspapers, magazines, it’s all pretty random. What do you think about all this?”

Mipha exhales thoughtfully. “I…really liked him, you know? He’s always been a nice guy, but lately…we got along so well. I don’t know how I feel about everything that’s going on right now, but I know someone changed him. I believe he deserves to find that person.”

“I see what you mean. I don’t get it either, but…you sort of need to support him, right? He’s just that kind of person.”

They laugh together, and Mipha nods. “Exactly.”

Link checks his journal app again. There’s still nothing there. He lets his head fall softly against the table.

_It was all just a dream. I recognized Rito Village because I remembered the news from three years ago._

Turning to look at his phone again, he bites his lip. _Or…a ghost, maybe? Or was it just some kind of fantasy? Did I just want to believe my life could be interesting so much that I made it happen?_

Ice pierces his heart as he realizes he can no longer remember the name of the person he came here for in the first place. _What was his name?_

He hears a light knock on the door, and Mipha enters. “Hey. Zelda will be up in a bit.”

“Mipha…” he signs. “I’ve been saying some really strange things. I’m sorry. Thank you for coming along anyway.”

“No problem,” she says with a quick smile. “Mind if we look at some of these together?” 

He shakes his head, and Mipha begins flipping through one of the magazines he’d bought about Rito Village. “Oh, wow,” she says eventually, “Look at these braided cords. They’re really pretty.” She pauses. “Isn’t that one on your wrist, actually?”

He looks at the cord on his wrist as if seeing it for the first time. “Yeah,” he signs slowly. “I think someone gave it to me a long time ago. I wear it as a good luck charm sometimes. But…I can’t remember…” His face twists. “Who gave it to me? Who…”

Mipha stares at him. “Maybe you should get ready for bed,” she says gently.

“Yes,” he signs, then frowns. “I mean, no. Hey, Mipha.”

“Yeah?”

“Someone who made these once told me…that these cords represent the flow of time itself,” he signs, the memory coming forward as if from a thick fog. “The threads twist, tangle, unravel, and connect again. That’s what time is.” His eyes widen. “Wait. Maybe…at that place…”

He opens up the map he’d bought and looks over it. Mipha goes to sleep, as does Zelda, and he eventually falls asleep too, over the map where he’s marked a broad area. 

 _Link,_ a voice whispers, somewhere out of that same fog. _Link. Link! Don’t you remember me?_

He wakes up with a start and stares at the cord. Right. There’s still…a small chance, right? The smallest chance that he can figure out what’s going on.

He scribbles down a note to Zelda and Mipha, telling them to go back to Castletown without him, and walks the way to the restaurant with the old man to ask him a favor.

The man drives him to the spot he requests, even gives him something to eat for lunch, saying gruffly, “That drawing you did…it was really good.” Link begins to hike up the mountain, not stopping even when it starts raining. He does stop to check the map and eat his lunch, periodically gazing at the cord on his wrist. He doesn’t know exactly why he’s so drawn to it, but it feels important, somehow.

_They converge, take shape, twist and tangle, sometimes unravel, break, then connect again. Hylia—the union. That’s what time is._

He continues up the mountain until he reaches the very peak, and when he does, he finds the large crater with the rock in the center.

 _It’s really there,_ he marvels, wiping the rain away from his eyes. _It wasn’t just a dream!_

He passes over the engorged stream surrounding the rock, remembering the words of someone from long ago. _Beyond this point is the netherworld. In exchange for returning to the world you know, you must leave behind what is most precious to you._

He enters the rock to find the small shrine within. _It’s the offerings we brought,_ he thinks, turning on his phone’s flashlight and aiming it at the two small parcels at the foot of the shrine. _This is his sister’s, and this was mine._ He lifts the parcel on the left, the one that was his—theirs. _Before the comet struck…so, the person I know was from three years ago? Our timelines weren’t in step._

He opens up the parcel. Inside are two deep blue feathers, wrapped at the middle with a red braided cord. _This is part of him…_ He sits down and stares at the feathers.

 _Hylia. If time really can be turned back, please just give me one more chance._ Running on instinct, he brings the feathers up to his mouth and brushes his lips against them.

Nothing happens.

He makes to stand back up, but he slips on the wet ground, and he looks up and there’s a comet drawn on the wall above the shrine—

And then he’s falling forever, and images flash in front of his eyes as his head hits the ground.

_The comet is a red string in the darkness, a braided cord, and it is the cord on his wrist and it is burning as he falls, falls—_

_The comet falls too, and it is a single point in the darkness, and then that point is two, then four—_

_A baby is born. “Your name is Revali,” a gentle voice says, and Link is still falling—_

_“You’re both my treasures,” says a devoted male voice, and he sees a young Revali with the people that must be his parents, and there is so much love there—_

_“You’re going to be a big brother,” Revali’s mother says, but then there is a sickness, and no amount of get-well cards drawn by Revali and Cris can bring her back—_

_“I’m so sorry, my dears,” she says, and she is gone, just like Link—_

_“Dad, when is Mom coming home?” Cris asks, and Revali knows that she isn’t coming home, that this is the end—_

_“I couldn’t save her,” says Revali’s father, even as Revali’s grandfather yells at him, telling him to get a hold of himself, and Revali and Cris are in the background watching—_

_“Who cares about the shrine?!”_

_“You’re the adopted son-in-law!”_

_“I loved my wife, not the Totori Shrine!”_

_“Get out of here right now!” Revali’s grandfather yells, and Revali is just outside, sinking to his knees and putting his hands over his ears like it will get rid of the shouting—_

_He’s walking away, and Revali’s grandfather is saying, “Revali, Cris, you’ll be with Grandfather from now on—”_

_Revali is looking at his notebook, brow furrowed. “Who am I? No, who are you?”_

_Revali is writing on his hand, his cheek. “Don’t be so egotistical! It’s not like anyone likes you enough to date you!”_

_Revali is in bed. “Must be nice. They’re probably together around now,” but tears are streaming down his face and they won’t stop—_

_And then he decides. “I’m going to Castletown,” he tells Cris—_

_But it’s later that night, and Revali stands at his grandfather’s door, running his hands through his hair. “Hey, Grandpa, can you do me a favor?” he asks, and then there are scissors in beautiful blue-black hair—_

_“Oh, yeah, the comet. Today is the peak of its brightness,” Revali muses out loud as he puts on his robes, and Link yells soundlessly, telling him to get out, don’t stay there—_

_Revali is staring at the sky, and the comet is splitting in two, and meteors are falling to the ground all around him, and Link screams, “Revali. Revali. Revali!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> screaming out each other's names: the fic

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! my tumblr is [anuninterestingperson](http://anuninterestingperson.tumblr.com) if you want to scream about revalink or this fricking amazing movie bc i have a lot of Feelings about both


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